Time and Again | Themes & Symbolism

Time and Again Significant Topics

The Relationship between Past and Present

This theme functions on two important levels. The first is technical, in that actual photos and incidents in the past are used to create a work of fiction. The novel itself embodies an important aspect of the past/present relationship - that the true, emotionally, spiritually, and physically inhabited life of the past can only be imagined in the present. The second level of this theme's function is on that of the story, as it uses this premise as a springboard into an exploration of two key questions. The first is whether the past can be experienced, and not just observed or recalled. Si embodies the answer to this question as he moves from merely observing the past, in photographs and in terms of Katie's letter, through theorizing whether experiencing the past is possible and into actually living it. In doing so, he discovers that there is much more to the...
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